Community Videos, Tips, & Techniques, Articles.

Welcome to the first posting to my new FileMaker Security blog. From time to time, I’ll be discussing issues of significance and importance related to FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Server security. In all these discussions I will keep foremost the concept that security is supposed to be focused on the preservation of the Confidentiality, Integrity, and... View the full article

Over the years I have been a big fan of using Quickeys with Filemaker, but just recently I stumbled on "BetterTouchTool", and I have to say it is blowing me away. http://boastr.net/ While it offers keyboard and trackpad customizing, I am really enjoying its options for Apple's Magic Mouse. EXAMPLE Two finger Swipe Down: Layout Mode Two finger Swipe Up: Browse Mode Three finger Tap: Enter (Ok) Two finger Swipe Left: Previous Record/Previous Layout Two finger Swipe Right: Previous Record/Next Layout etc. Then there is the all powerful 'TipTap' http://www.youtube.com/user/andreashegenberg#p/u/14/svUHAzjcf80 I use TipTap left to call up the app…

File Name: Sokoban File Submitter: andries File Submitted: 15 Feb 2011 File Updated: 15 Feb 2011 File Category: Samples FM Version: 10 This is an example I found in my archives when FileMaker 10 introduced ScriptTriggers. It was fun to create, not really useful in a solution, but fun to play :-) Help Santa to deliver his gifts ! Click here to download this file

File Name: Set Graphics to Global Variables File Submitter: Ocean West File Submitted: 20 Dec 2010 File Updated: 21 Dec 2010 File Category: Samples FM Version: 10 This technique is used on startup of a solution where it will run a script and set the contents of a container field to a global variable ( $$variable ) for use elsewhere in the solution, such as a calculation that determines the boolean state of a flag on/off and allowing you to use the corresponding graphic. By referencing the global variable in the calculation. Click here to download this file

File Name: ClockMaker Pro Advanced File Submitter: andries File Submitted: 20 Jan 2011 File Category: Samples FM Version: 8.5 This is just a nice use of the webviewer to display an analog clock in FileMaker using the webviewer. You can play with the parameters until you have the clock you want. With GetLayoutObjectAttribute ( "wv Copy" ; "content" ) you can grab the HTML code and place it in a webviewer in any solution. Click here to download this file

File Name: Sexagesimal Expression s Evaluator File Submitter: raybaudi File Submitted: 07 Jan 2011 File Category: Samples FM Version: 9 A simple sexagesimal expression's evaluator. Click here to download this file

One of the Features that I missed in version 11, was the ability to select a function using the space key in the Calculation box and Manager Scripts Steps and/or Functions. Guess what? I read a tip a few minutes ago by Darren Terry (Experts List) that makes this option available if you change the Preferences for OS Keyboard shortcuts, of Spotlight which will then allow you to use the Keyboard combination of Control + Spacebar. A Big thank you Darren! Hope others find this helpful. Lee

I thought I might as well share this, as it's taken me a while to figure this out. We needed a script to automatically connect to our FM host's FTP server, and download that day's backup. This shell script here does that, plus compresses and renames the resulting .tar file to date. This will run on any Unix system; we use it on a computer in our office running Mac OS X. #!/bin/sh ############################################################################## # script that downloads a file, compresses and renames it to date # copy to plain text editor and save as fmbackup.sh # open Terminal, run "chmod +x fmbackup.sh" (drag sh file into terminal aft…

I needed something to generate a bunch of unique serial numbers. I found a great custom function by Martin D. Brunner - [email protected]. @ www.briandunning.com. and built a file around it. Hope you can use or improve it. RIVET_Unique_Serial_Number_Generator.fp7.zip

Another effort to eliminate TO's and fields. Note that each parent retains its own selection. ViewSelectedChild11.zip

A way to visualize points on an image ( or a chart ). It needs 10 ( at least ) _10_PointsOnImage.zip

Compare with previous versions: http://fmforums.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/171912/ http://fmforums.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/172518/ MatchAnyOrAll11.zip

Horizontal portal with scrolling. As in part 2 of the series, each parent retains its selection for the duration of the session. HorizontalPortal11.zip

This file demonstrates a concept I am calling "single field edit". Under every data field is a different copy of the same global field. Script triggers control access to the field, and you can control access, editing, auditing, tab order, etc with a very small set of scripts because all activity is routed through the same field. In find mode, the user enters the standard data fields. SingleFieldEdit.fp7.zip

We get questions about how to format a text field so that the user doesn't override fomatting set place by the developer. In orther words, the users will paste in data from the clipboard, that uses a different fonts, or they type in a phone number XXX-XXX-XXXX or XXXXXXXXXX, etc and you want it to display (XXX) XXX-XXXX etc. You can control this somewhat by using the Auto Enter >> Calculated Value. There are several example files showing the use of the Auto Enter Function, but sometimes we spend a lot of effort spelling out the steps involve. The purpose of this tip, is to show visually the steps. [color:blue]To start, you need to go into the Man…

Hi all A way to change the background color of a field, going from one color to the other(s) with a simple click. ( No containers ) This works on 10 ( and UP ), but can be adapted to work ( slowly ) even with 9. _10_Toggle_Field__s_Background.zip

I've been using Filemaker as a college teacher for almost two years now, and I thought I'd share the fruits of my labors with others on this forum. I'm posting this here as a way of offering my help to others who are interested in using FM in place of a traditional gradebook or a spreadsheet. Please reply with any questions; I'm more than willing to offer further guidance or even post my FM solution as an example. I'm not posting it here now only because my actual FM solution has a lot of personal tweaks which will make it less than helpful to a newbie user. What my FM solution does: 1) keep track of student data (grades, mostly) 2) produce grade reports for assi…

This is cool. It's a quick and dirty demo of the substantially improved letter merging features in FMP 7.0. Basically, text and paragraph formatting can be used in a template that is then applied to another database through a related calculation field. It is seriously serious stuff. For some reason my clients all want letter templates like this. In FMP 5 it was possible but no formatting (character or paragraph) could be used -- if they did it was lost during the merge. In FMP 6 character formatting could now be applied in the templates, which was a big step forward, but it required the use of the Replace function, copy and paste, and each record had to be proce…

Just thought I would share this with others; especially those that have not played with merge variables yet ( dunno if it has been shared on other sites yet ). With the implementation of layout level variables, they can be used as layout level calculations. To address the refreshing of the data one could use an OnRecordLoad and call a script to refresh the data using Refresh Window []. However, this looks horrible with the flash particularly on Windows. A better way would just use a Freeze Window. To refresh the layout merge variable values just call a script with a single Freeze Window step. Allow the setting of the variable to be set as a Script Par…

After a fair amount of Googling, I worked out the technical details to use a real drawing language inside the FileMaker Web Viewer. This method does not require any external files, web servers, or plug-ins. It uses only FileMaker's built-in web viewer and its ability to render an internally calculated URL using the "data:" protocol. The HTML or XML is generated by a FileMaker calculation for the Web Viewer to display. The drawing language used is either SVG or VML depending on the platform. SVG is not yet supported by the IE-based Web Viewer on Windows. The attached file demonstrates the technique to draw circles, ellipses, arcs, lines, rectangles, and r…

I just finished recording an 11-video series on FileMaker 11. They are anywhere from 5-10 minutes and cover new features (along with tips and tricks) in the new version. MightyData's "11 Days of FileMaker 11" is available at http://www.mightydata.com/11days.html. The videos are published through YouTube (low-res) and Screencast (high-res). Enjoy! - Martha Z

FileMaker gives us local and global variables, which are quite useful. Further, these variables can have a "repetition number" in square bracket format such as $data[23] or $data[0] or $data[-128]. The repetition can be "sparse" - you can set rep #1 and 17 and 85 without setting any other rep numbers. As it turns out, these integer values can be large. As in quite large; as in integers of over 400 digits. Well - OK - but what good is that??? Let us consider another FileMaker feature. We now have the code() and char() functions. Code( "a") produces result 97. Code( "FMForums") produces: 11500109001170011400111000700007700070 And it is reversible: …

Here is an organizational concept for organizing the Relationship Graph. mwI5BYEZ1Yg

Solution / : Horizontal and Vertical Photo Browser Description: A browser that uses portals, and a repeating calc field to simulate vertical and horizontal tiling of photos. The "photo's" used are just returned from a google search for small clip art images. As usual if you download this file, please put a vote in, there is no real point to the vote except it's the only way i get feedback as to whether you think it's a decent file or not. Working Under: Solution Status: Finished Pre-requisites: Author(s): Genx Date: 02/22/07 Credits: Comment -- Just cause he rocks : And also because I learnt that you could use GetNt…

February 9th 2010 One month from today, March 9th 2010, will mark the sixth anniversary of the release of FileMaker Pro 7 and the advent of the .fp7 era. An auspicious anniversary it will be, to be sure, and worthy of appropriate commemoration. I am curious what other developers may think are the top five items that characterize the modern .fp7 versions of FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Pro Advanced and that have come along as the product matured and advanced. Here are my five: 1. Security schema 2. $ and $$ variables 3. GetValue and List functions 4. Conditional formatting 5. Triggers Steven

Probably here is a bit more like just to make a relationship or calculation. Making database for home movie collection is one thing. Making database to register student activities is another. Making CRM or ERP database again is different case. Skills can be on the same for ALL variants and in a lot of cases some average or intermediate is enough. Difference is in understanding FOR WHAT database is created. As higher is knowledge "for what" as more complicated database you can create with the same skills. What I want to say - you need to knew much more to develop good database for situation: how user and admin look on your created result, how easy is to imple…

Creating application "Lesson content sources management" I use Layout Tab panels. And here I face some navigation problems. The way I have solved them is here. Probably here isn't much new. What is interesting here? - navigation from portal record to related record field on Layout Tab panel - GoTo Object, - multilingual labels via separate table records (similar to many internet portal solutions), - script to insert in to Container field located on Layout Tab panel, for example - PDF file reference and calculate web viewer address from reference, - on this layout - instead to define Window width and height - hairline and Resize Window to Fit do the job, …

Not being one to read manuals, just stumbled across this one in FM10. Double clicking on the tool icon in layout mode locks the tool, great for quick format changing, always hated having to go to prefs for this option.

Solution / Dynamic Labels Description: I have been playing with global calculations for a while and this the first fruit from that investigation. This little example lets you change the language of the labels in your solution without scripting (other than on startup). I think its pretty powerful stuff. Have fun... Working Under: Solution Status: Finished Pre-requisites: 8.5 untested in 8... Author(s): Stuart Taylor Date: 12/31/06 Credits: Instructions / Other Info: Disclaimer: FM Forums does not endorse or warrantee these files are fit for any particular purpose. Do not post or distribute files wit…

Microsoft has now released Windows 7. [color:red] FileMaker, Inc. has some important information on compatibility of its products with Windows 7: http://thefmkb.com/7453 http://thefmkb.com/7454 At this time the only FileMaker Pro version we expect to run correctly on Windows 7 will be FileMaker Pro 10.0v3. There are a few minor issues, but we expect it to run. No previous version of FileMaker Pro is compatible with Windows 7. If you plan to run FileMaker Pro on Windows 7, you should be running version 10.0v3. Steven

The FileMaker Design Caucus presents SmallCo's Design SMACKDOWN! Thursday, Oct 22nd at 3 pm Eastern Time (UTC - 4). No Caucus membership is required. Join as a guest at: http://smallco.net/caucus --- Join us, and help to SMACKDOWN three FileMaker solutions: 1. SmallCo alum Curtis Michelson returns from The Land of Open Source with The Synchorator, a developer utility for syncing SQL and FileMaker data. 2. John Weinshel shares his pain with a particularly tough redesign of a "ransom note" FileMaker layout. 3. Albert, Scott, Dave and Jose ask you to throw darts at their work for The University of North Carolina Press. Did we get TOO big for our …

This solution helps tie the real world to the data world by allowing a project to be open, active and span any length of time while having the capability to invoice Assignments as be become completed. Goal is to build an iron clad project based invoice system. This file is a good solid start.Tho this file is raw and the interface is not done, the structure is pretty much established. Tho I believe some of my coding, relations and scripts are dodgie and could be a lot cleaner and sound. Please play around with this file, take a look on how it works and make some suggestions on how I can make this better. Thank you so much for your time!!! project_invoice_mo…

I have been working on this script logging file for the past few days, and I was hoping I could recruit some help with testing, development, and ideas. I guess I'm kinda wanting to make it an "open source" project. The file is still rough - the layouts aren't pretty yet, but the system works. I included my RowHighlightSelection demo file, as the test file with script logging enabled on it. The "Help" layout has a To Do list and Instructions on implementing it. Please have a look and tell me what you think. If you can contribute to any of the To Do list items, it would be much appreciated. ScriptLogging.zip

A workaround for the annoying "keep sorted" behavior of version 10. SortOnce10.fp7.zip

Solution / Browse Portals As Pages Description: Thought i'd post this as i haven't posted any in a while. This is sort of a follow up to a previous topic called Horizontal Photo Browser. I really don't like list view, in fact i personally think its kind of useless and will never give me the end user experience i want. So, this sample file is designed to get around it and simulate a web-like paging interface. I don't expect you to share my opinion, but for those who do... Another issue with list view is that IWP's list capabilities have no real use, displaying only 15 records at any one time. You can use the scroller and the script without the po…

[color:blue]X4X X4X X4X X4X X4X X4X X4X X4X X4X X4X X4X X4X X4X X4X X4X X4X Marking the release of the FileMaker Pro 10 Bible, NightWing Enterprises is pleased to announce **Ten for 10!** Available immediately, are ten new demonstration files which showcase a selection of the new features of FileMaker Pro 10. The X4X downloads can be accessed online at: NightWing Enterprises - FileMaker 10 Demos These are free downloads, provided as a courtesy to readers of the FileMaker Pro 10 Bible , as well as to fellow developers and prospective clients. Full access is provided to all ten files so you can pull them apart to view the code. The ten sample and d…

Here's a technique to implement live (i.e., as-you-type) Spotlight-style filters using FileMaker 10's new event model. This technique does add a bit of bloat in order to store and index exploded keys, but you can adapt this technique to utilize FileMaker's Find Mode as well. Have fun! spotlight_filter.zip

Solution / : Custom Login Screen Description: FileMaker custom login screens -- I'm looking for someone to try and hack this, crack this, break this, get through this, using whatever tools or methods they might have in FM or developer or anything else they seek fit to rely on. I made this a while ago and i've forgotten the password soooo... But if no-one manages to crack it within two weeks, i'll recreate the file and post it in this thread as a sample. [color:red]EDIT 3: DEVELOPMENT ON THIS FILE WILL NOT CONTINUE DUE TO VARIOUS METHODS DISCOVERED AROUND FM'S PRIVILEGE SETS Working Under: Solution Status: Untested Pre-requisites: A…

You know in a list view when you have each row alternating colors. But also have two fields stacked on top of each other (one a calculated display field) the other the data entry field, you we don't have the option to FORCE the field behind to invisible. You have to mask it by making the overlay field WHITE - or some color fill. But doing so will prevent your alternating row color from appearing... The first thing is easy .... using conditional formatting we can set the overlay field to have three sets of display color options by using a boolean condition. Mod(Get(RecordNumber);2) = 0 for your first color Mod(Get(RecordNumber);2) = 1 for your second color …

Just posted 10 techniques for FileMaker 10. Help yourself ! http://www.bh-a.com/downloads/

Based on David Graham’s Spotlight Filter, here is a way to mask a field entry. This solution required FMP10 password_mask_fmp10.zip

Check out the new “Tips-n-Trick” file just posted to the “Downloads” section of our web site, contributed by Mike Duncan, a Lead Developer at Excelisys, Inc. FileMaker Pro 10 introduced native script triggers as a tool for developers to utilize in their solutions. This example demonstrates the usage of a search filter, which many FileMaker developers are familiar with in complex portal filtering solutions. Now, with the use of script triggers, it is simple enough to implement the same functionality but you are not restricted to displaying results in a portal, and therefore have much more flexibility in the interface. Instead of being required to set a complex key tha…

I recently have found a reason to look for methods to allow a user to store an arbitrary number of "import order" specifications WITHOUT forcing the user to edit/save a script. I searched the site here and was NOT able to find any discussion thread on this topic of "storing import order as data". I've put together an approach that essentially can store something LIKE a "import order" and allow the user to recall it for later use. The mappings are stored as DATA. I've also arranged for storage/retrieval of values for global parameters that might affect details of the import process. The demonstration is still a little rough around the edges, but I thi…

The new FM 10 events are getting a lot of press, but there's one event that we've always had that just got a tiny bit more powerful. The OnLastWindowClose event is the event which has always triggered the script you've selected to run when closing the file. In FM 10, this event has now been modified to run the script prior to the event, which means that you can now ask the user if they really want to quit the database. If you return an Exit Script [result=false] step then it wont execute the close command on the last window for that file.

I doubt this has anything in it that hasn't already been done, but I've never seen a Launcher file like this. I've made a couple of other FM Launcher files in the past but always hated having to define scripts for every single file. The Open File script step doesn't let you use a variable so I made this to get around it. Its very ugly and extremely basic but hopefully useful to someone. There is a ton of room for improvement and I'll keep working on it to make it pretty and many enhance it a little. Any suggestions please let me know. Launcher_Demo.fp7.zip

Here is a quick demo that can be used to navigate between records and fields using the keyboard arrows. It will wrap around to the next record once reaching the last object and viceversa. Demo requires version 10 or higher ArrowKeyRecordNav.zip

EXCELISYS, INC., (www.excelisys.com) a database solutions and consulting organization specializing in quality custom database application design, development, and consulting for LAN, WAN, and Web deployments is proud announce a new Tips and Trick for FileMaker Pro 10! Everyone at Excelisys loves to hear that rhetorical question asked: "Woah! You can do THAT in FileMaker?" Oh yeah, you can. Well this is one of those moments, and we just posted a demo file and white paper about it up on our Excelisys web site. With the new script triggers introduced in the recently released FileMaker Pro 10, we all can now deliver a richer user experience to our custom…

Hi, The new version of CFExplorer is now available. CFExplorer is a simple, elegant, free database for FileMaker developers to store and ‘debug’ their custom functions ... and it's also free! * Updated for FileMaker 10 * The simple library now allows full editing of calculation code using familiar FileMaker tools * Import custom functions from www.briandunning.com and www.fmfunctions.com/ * ‘Debugging’ through custom functions is now improved * Sign up to the CFExplorer mailing list from inside the solution * Easy to move all your functions and tests to the new version with 1 button Download it now directly from the CFExplorer site! Hope yo…

There are two great options here and here for passing and retrieving multiple script parameters. Both options have a lot in common, and it's easy to write script parameters which utilize these custom functions. I got tired of having to explicitly retrieve the many different parameters and wanted to instantly have all of my parameters available so I could tell immediately if I had any problems during debugging. This is why I wrote my own custom function which converts a multiple-parameter string instantly into multiple populated variables. It's easier to screw up the parameter string, but the end result is worth it for me at least. Take a peek and tell me what y…

Here's v2 (2.4 actually) of the demo. Comments and suggestions for improvement are of course welcome. conditional_summary_report_headers__v2.4.zip

There are times when the full rigor of FileMaker's structured data methods are exactly what you need. On the other hand, there are times you want to work with temporary lists, data snapshots, clipboard contents, and so on. It turns out there are some useful techniques for dealing with data of this type. You probably know about FileMaker global variables, and global fields. Did you know you can create list views and portals from a global variable? Did you know you can sort, find, filter, export, and print the contents of a global variable? You can create an in-memory database of thousands or tens of thousands of records by passing data to a …

[blurb] FileMaker Pro developers all over the world are facing business uncertainty in coming weeks and months as a result of the economic turmoil gripping the global marketplaces. Near-hysterical media reporting fuels further uncertainty and fear. However, the situation is very serious, and it deserves very close attention. In my professional lifetime, I have been through a number of recessions, some of them short-lived, others prolonged, deep, and accompanied by deflationary spirals and by stagnation of economic forces. The present-day sharp downturn, while very significant, is not as severe as those of the middle 1970’s and the late 1970’s through 1982. The …

CFExplorer v0.1 released CFExplorer is a simple, elegant, free database for FileMaker developers to store and ‘debug’ their custom functions. Oh and it's also free...! * A simple custom function library * Import custom functions from www.briandunning.com * ‘Debug’ through custom functions using test data This version was originally released to the UK TechNet conference on 23rd October 08. Download it now from the CFExplorer download page! Enjoy CFExplorer.zip

This may be one of those common practices that I just 'discovered' on my own, but I am having very good luck using separate files when converting a flat file to a relational one. I've never liked clogging up my development file with import tables, TOs, layouts, and scripts. But only recently have I discovered I don't have to. I started simply building all my importing routines in a separate "Interface/Import" file and (so far) it works wonderfully. Any one else doing this?

Hi all, I've figured out a patch to make Instant Web Publishing work with FileMaker 7 and 8.x on Mac OS X Leopard - detailed instructions at http://www.rorohiko.com/wordpress/?p=36 It involves a bit of work with a hex editor, but should not be too difficult... Hope it's helpful! Cheers, Kris

Solution: Apple Accordion Thingy Description: A UI element based on calculated repetitions and designed to mimic the behavior of the apple accordion widget seen all over the apple website, particularly here: http://www.apple.com/support/ The sample file and an overview video are available off Harry and I's (indeed with the lack of grammar) new blog: www.filemakerdesign.com/blog/?bid=1 Please let us know what you think (of both the site and the blog posts : ) Working Under:8.5 Advanced Solution Status: Demo Author(s): Genx Date: 08/13/08 Credits: Apple Disclaimer: FM Forums does not endorse or warrantee these files are…

Solution: Boss GT-8 Guitar Processor Description: The file is called GT8.fp7 and was created in FM ADV 8.5 It may work with FM 8 but I don't know. This is a "not pretty" compilation of the Boss GT-8 effects data. I created it to keep track of my personal modified settings/likes/dislikes but then I added all the factory settings which is the only data in this file now other than a few unnecessary notes of mine that I didn't feel like taking out. Working Under: Solution Status: Beta Pre-requisites: Author(s): Jeff Bills Date: 01/03/08 Credits: Uco Mesdag's Boss GT-8 sysex reader for helping me gather info Instructi…

Custom Web Publishing (CWP) carries with it inherent vulnerabilities for the exposure of any credentials a user enters into a browser’s credentials dialog box. As a result, developers likely should follow a restrictive policy for these credentials. Circumstances and attendant adverse impact will vary from situation to situation. The bottom line however is this: CWP credentials are subject to being intercepted and retained without any warning to users and without any knowledge that a breach has occurred. Download the article today at: http://www.fmpug.com/members_download.php?filename=credentialexposureincwp.pdf&free=true Many thanks to Steven Blackwell for w…

Solution: Faux Portal Filter Description: Combining the power of Find Mode with the control of a portal. Solution Status: Beta Author(s): jmormond Date: 08/28/08 Your Thoughts? I wanted to get your opinion and suggestions on this idea. I would like to get away from using the copy all records script step, since it uses the clipboard and an extra layout), but I can't figure another way that doesn't drastically slow down the performance. (Tried using a Loop to grab the ID's, but the more search results you have the slower it goes) This works great in the solutions that I am currently using it in. Even with a search result of 14,000 rec…

This is an example of drag and drop without the use of a plugin. RIVET_drag_and_drop.zip

I inform you that on the web http://filemakermagic.blogspot.com have a selection of good tricks in Filemaker. I hope you like. Javier

a file full of colour. Rivet_x11colors.zip

Hey guys, A few people have continuously berated me at different points and I've done my best to explain how it is that port forwarding works in a text based format. In truth though, the explanations are never full blown and are just enough to scrape people through their particular issues. For a fairly decent (if i do say so myself) explanation of port forwarding, head on over to: http://www.filemakerdesign.com/blog/?bid=11 - I've tried to put this together as a static resource. If someone is having issues with port forwarding, please direct them to this post first (if you think its decent) - at least that way they will have a basic understanding of what it is…

Not really a Filemaker related but for viewing or reading large documents online this may help you get through it faster, with more comprehension. this site http://www.spreeder.com/ basically you copy a few paragraphs of text and then go to the site and paste it in and press play and you can speed read the text at nearly 300 words per minute. Also has a handy bookmark-let for handling the pasting for you Enjoy. s

I have posted a new video that demonstrates how to get the Large Type goodness found in Apple's Address Book into your FileMaker database using Quicksilver and AppleScript. http://www.gaslowitz.net/filemaker/blog/2008/07/video-quicksilver-for-large-type-functionality/ Michael Gaslowitz FileMaker Developer [email protected] 404.606.1863 LargeType.zip

The fourth in a series of six demos planned to follow the release of the FileMaker Pro 9 Bible, is now available. This new demo combines several advanced techniques to produce a data-driven document generator. It allows you to create templates in a text field (containing merge tags, dynamic and contextual data and even FileMaker calculation syntax!) and then seamlessly merge them with data in your solution to produce a variety of different (and data-dependent) documents from a single layout. Using this technique, your solutions no longer require an extra layout for every new document - or every slight variation of an existing document. Moreover, end users can w…

So is anyone out there using Excel (with ODBC) for reporting? Even for simple reports, Excel affords a lot to the user (Pivot Tables, Charting, auto-filtering for interactive refinement, further computations auto-filling down next to the data, etc.) I've started playing with a pretty simple Excel and some Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros that allow you to specify the DSN and Query in your workbook. The FM ODBC driver is VERY tetchy about what it will take as input compared to SQL Server ODBC driver, but if you can live without OUTER JOINS (not supported) you can make some interesting interactive reports in Excel that are live to the database. The …

Ok, I've been playing with FM Pro 9 for the first time after about 3 yrs away from FM Pro... I had really wanted to use SQL Server as the backend, but ultimately FM Pro isn't there, that said there are a lot of analytics I want to do that aren't easy with FileMaker, but are with SQL Server. Further, the ODBC driver for FM is somewhat poor. Anyhow, I have started on some open source Ruby scripts that help you pull data from FM via ODBC and put it into SQL server (or for that matter any ODBC data source) for further analysis. The gist of the solution is that I used a simple text file (YAML format) to describe the FM Pro database and my desired SQL CREATE form…

Just a note to let you know I've recently posted a new demo file on the NightWing web site. It shows the basics of a system for providing a multi-lingual interface, making it easy for users to switch the interface labels back and forth between different languages. You can find a link to the download page near the top of the main demos page at: http://www.nightwing.com.au/FileMaker/demos.html The demo is an additional supplement for readers of the recently released FileMaker Pro 9 Bible, as the technique is one of the many described in detail in the book (see Chapter 10 - Building Advanced Interfaces). However with or without the book, the demo will likely sti…

In the FileMaker Pro developer community there is a general lack of clear understanding about the need for the correct type of security in FileMaker Pro solutions. There is too much focus on passwords and not enough focus on the protection of assets and the mitigation of adverse impacts of breaches. There is also too much focus on the creation of “custom” “security” systems and not enough focus on identifying threats and the risks of their occurring. There is too much complaining about how “hard” it is to have good security and not enough appreciation about the adverse impact of having the wrong type of security. Read more at the FMCollective blog her…

Solution: Access Manager Database Description: Hi, I have been working on a security file that will allow our clients to be able to manage their own users and passwords in Filemaker along with any contact information etc. The only people that will be given access to this layout will be the "Administrators" of the system. Here is what I have come up with. The problem is that when the client reaches their license limit (in this file, I have set the license limit to 5 users), they may want to re-use some of the existing licenses. So they would re-type over an existing account that is no longer valid. Currently, there is no way for the system to identi…

Special Program During Developer Conference to Focus On Evaluating Database Security Needs “Assets, Vulnerabilities, Threats, and Risks: What Type Security Is Right For You?” Tuesday, July 15th 11:15 AM to 12:30 PM Sonoran H Ballroom JW Marriott Desert Ridge, Phoenix AZ Presented by Steven H. Blackwell Database security should focus on protecting your digital assets and on preventing threat agents from exploiting vulnerabilities to attack those assets. Security should also focus on mitigating the adverse impact those breaches cause to your assets, your organization, your operations, your reputation, and your people. Heavy security is not n…

Updates: 2006-03-15: Latest version 4.0 is added (see bottom for AuditTrail-r4_0.fp7.zip) 2006-01-20: Version 3.02 is Here 2005-03-30: Added revision 2 of file in this post I spent part of Saturday searching for an audit trail example that makes use of FM7's new features, thinking that an FM7 implementation could be considerably simpler than an FM5/6 version. While I found a couple of excellent examples posted by Ray Cologon and Ugo di Luca, they weren't quite what I was looking for, so I spent the rest of the day trying to come up with a different version. I've posted the result here. It works without scripts, lookups or relationships. And while it onl…

This might make your day. close_window_trigger_script.zip

I had my calendar posted here a while ago: http://fmforums.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/172191/ Now it's completely re-done with new features. - week starts sunday or monday - all colors are adjustable - event dates are showing in bold Let me know if there are any questions Calendar-8.5a.fp7.zip

Solution: Find Locations by Postal Code within specified distance Description: This example allows you to locate all customer (or other) records that have a postal code located within a specified distance from a target location. Solution Status: Finished (Revision 1) Pre-requisites: FM 7 or later Author(s) BobWeaver Date: 03/28/08 Credits: Instructions / Other Info: See the introduction page in the file for instructions, etc. Disclaimer: FM Forums does not endorse or warrantee these files are fit for any particular purpose. Do not post or distribute files without written approval from the copyright owner. All files are …

SUCCESS! Thanks to some help and encouragement by Comment. I don't know how to link this to a short thread under Relationships, but this is my result... I think this should be a stable solution... -/ See attached file. It's ugly, but seems to be totally functional! One important thing I haven't done yet, which is not really the point here, is automatically update gParentID. That's a no brainer for me now, and I know I can carry the logic from this study file over into my actual working file. I do think that my mess here can be cleaned up. If there are any ideas, I would love to hear them! Summarize_Grandchildren.fp7.zip

Solution: March Madness Description: A basic application to score March Madness brackets. Beware, it's a bit rough and hasn't been thoroughly tested - I usually use it until I find a problem. It's a 'brute force' solution I thought of last year that seems to work pretty well, though in no way elegant. I think any scoring bugs may have been worked out by now. Working Under: Solution Status: Untested Pre-requisites: NA Author(s) ddreese Date: 03/07/08 Credits: NA Instructions / Other Info: This is a fairly rough version of the database that I created last year. This year I've made some changes to integrate this file with…

Solution: Tutorial on using Web Services in FileMaker, VOIP for FileMaker Description: Complete tutorial on how to use CDYNE PhoneNotify! Web Service in a FileMaker project. Great way of adding VOIP support into FileMaker solutions. -appointment reminders -rich interactive phone dialogs using hosted audio files and text-to-speach -much more http://wiki.cdyne.com/wiki/index.php?title=FileMaker Sample file from the article is attached. Regards, Valentin. Working Under: Solution Status: Beta Pre-requisites: FM Nexus Web Services Plug-in Author(s): Valentin I. Date: 02/27/08 Credits: Instruction…

Solution: Zip Codes database http://www.4shared.com/file/22064631/dcc5e931/ZIPCODES.html 8 mb zipped. 98mb unzipped. Instructions / Other Info: Download from the link and unzip. ba boom. Disclaimer: FM Forums does not endorse or warrantee these files are fit for any particular purpose. Do not post or distribute files without written approval from the copyright owner. All files are deemed public domain unless otherwise indictated. Please backup every file that you intend to modify.

Find your running out of screen real estate for your field labels? Let the field itself display the label when the field is empty. Use auto enter calculation and un-check the "Do not replace..." box Case( IsEmpty(FIELD); TextColor ( "Enter Text Here..." ; RGB ( 127 ; 127 ; 127 ) ); TextColor ( FIELD ; RGB ( 0 ; 0 ; 0 ) )) Version: 7 Platform: Mac OS X Panther

Solution: PHP by Web Viewer Description: Look up 5,689 PHP functions with the Web Viewer. Happy PHP-ing Ralph Nusser Sogetes Computer-Services http://www.sogetes.com Working Under: Solution Status: Beta Pre-requisites: FM8.5 / FM9 Author(s): ralph.nusser Date: 01/06/08 Credits: weberdev.com Instructions / Other Info: URL-Function for Web Viewer: /* Syntax: _PHP_WeberDev.com_Function_Reference ( Function_Name ) Author: Ralph Nusser, sogetes.com, 01/06/2008 Example: http://www.weberdev.com/Manuals/PHP/function.maxdb-error.html Source: http://www.weberdev.com/PHP-Functions-List.h…

Solution: Perform sub-script dynamically by calculated script-name Description: This file shows a method to call a sub-script dynamically by its name. Working Under: Version 8 and above, I think. Solution Status: Unlocked demo Pre-requisites: An event-triggering plugin with a control parameter, such as DoScript or zippScript. Author: comment Date: 12/17/07 Credits: Created in response to: http://www.fmforums.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/192017/ Disclaimer: FM Forums does not endorse or warrantee these files are fit for any particular purpose. Do not post or distribute files without written approval from the c…

Solution: No named easy tab set Description: Rapid Deployment Data Separated Dynamic Tab Set. Data Separation Model (as described in the video FMP Mag) Tabs auto populate when layout added. Dual tier subset system Reorder tabs by moving laouts Working Under: Solution Status: Beta Pre-requisites: FMP 9 for conditional formatting only Author(s) DataMate Date: 10/30/07 Credits: Noted in custom functions Instructions / Other Info: Instructions included Disclaimer: FM Forums does not endorse or warrantee these files are fit for any particular purpose. Do not post or distribute files without written approval from …

Solution: Repeating Fields, Line Item Scripts Description: Sometimes repeating fields are all you need for line items in a project. Here is a sample with a few scripts to help you copy, paste, insert, delete, and move the line items around. Note, the move script is interesting, with a simple loop I have reduced the proceed down to three clicks. Enjoy, and thanks! P.S. These are just some tools in case you need to use repeating fields. My regrets, if this post or repeating fields offend in any way, so I will excuse myself from those needs. Working Under: Solution Status: Beta Pre-requisites: Author(s) David Schellenberg / Rive…

Solution: Filemaker 8 Mac, Alternate Icons Description: Here are some alternate icon resource sets for filemaker 8 mac. I am on a project that requires flipping back and forth between 9 and 8 and in the osx app switcher (command+tab) this helps distinguish the two versions of fmp. -download file -expand -Right click fmp8 application icon and select "show package contents. -in contents/resources/ folder replace FMAp.icns with one of the alternate ones. (after you backup the original) -open fmp8 Working Under: Solution Status: Finished Pre-requisites: Author(s) rivet Date: 10/30/07 Credits: Instructions / Other…

I was pretty bored at work yesterday, often times I find myself trying to remember layout #s so I can hop right to them when necessary. My database is rather large and porky, partially due to I'm no longer the only developer anymore (it pains me to have someone else ignoring my purposeful consistencies, hah). We have a ton of layouts in our file, over 550. The layout chooser dropdown on the status bar is very slow, and there is a glitch that scrolling through the list and clicking on a layout will not take to you the correct one, but the last layout (I'm assuming because we have so many layouts). So I decided to create another table, that just holds the layout…

Solution: Multi-Word Search and Highlight Description: Multi-Word Search and Highlight What the Client Wants, the Client Gets The initial request from the client was to have each search word show up highlighted in a resulting list. Also the solution had to be in a portal. The problem with the portal solution is, you have to break the field being search into carriage returned words, and so your file size doubles. I have included a list version which has less overhead, with one less field, and one less relationship. Working Under: Solution Status: Beta Pre-requisites: Author(s) David Schellenberg / Rivet Design Communications …

Solution: Tab Pannels In List View Description: Adding more data than fits in a row in a list view you can cycle more columns of data also toggle down a detail pane for even MORE data. Uses tab objects and the 9 trick of using 0 margin and 0 pen tab panels. Working Under: Solution Status: Beta Pre-requisites: Author(s): Ocean West Date: 09/15/07 Inspiration: ericp from TechNet Instructions / Other Info: Disclaimer: FM Forums does not endorse or warrantee these files are fit for any particular purpose. Do not post or distribute files without written approval from the copyright owner. All files are deemed pub…

Solution: Photo Bezel Overlay Description: This technique uses tool tips to evoke a event trigger using ZippScript to toggle you between 4 tab panels and a script that schedules another script event to return you to the default tab after a few seconds, in effect hiding the bezel overlay when idle. Short video included. Working Under: Solution Status: Beta Pre-requisites: ZippScript 2.0 Author(s): Ocean West Date: 09/15/07 Credits: Instructions / Other Info: Disclaimer: FM Forums does not endorse or warrantee these files are fit for any particular purpose. Do not post or distribute files without written appr…

Solution / : Back and Forward Buttons Description: An example file that will show developers how to add backward and forward buttons into their FileMaker solution similar to what you would find in a web browser. As always let me know what you think. Working Under: Solution Status: Finished Pre-requisites: Author(s): Genx Date: 01/16/07 Credits: Instructions / Other Info: It's been documented to some extent in the tool tips so... Put together in 8 but I'm pretty sure i didn't use anything non FM 7 compatible. Ignore the new script it doesn't do anything, that was just me forgetting to remove something. …

I've been working on this problem over a period of time, and these are the 2 best solutions I've come up with for embedding PDFs entirely in 7 container fields. Both of them use one field for the file itself, and a separate field for the 1st page of the file. Only the 1st page of a PDF is visible in FileMaker 7 (AFAIK). The 1st method just Inserts the PDF into the field. This is OK, but doesn't look so good. It is not anti-aliased, as PDFs usually are everywhere else. It prints fine; but it's only the 1st page. The 2nd method uses an external helper, a free AppleScript Scripting Addition, GraphicsImporter; which you must get, in the Scripting Additions section a…

Solution: Dynamic Status and Deadline Color and Note Marker Description: Here is a nice visual feature to add to your solution. Dynamically mark your assignments with color and deadline notes! This solution can easily be customized to fit your needs. Deadline Marker: clc_marker will tell user how many days are left till deadline. If deadline is pass and status is NOT complete, marker will result in “TARDY” letting User know Assignment needs immediate attention. If Assignment is past due and complete, marker will result in “X”, letting user know that Assignment is finished. Deadline Color: clc_color_deadline will result in gray, magenta, pink, yellow…

Attached is a simple sample of a script Trigger done entirly in Filemaker. I threw this together using FM9 on vista and I do not know how it will behave on any other platform. (Limited usefullness but still "Kind of Cool") : I forgot somthing, If you use this in a solution the Global fields used to trigger the scriptd should be omitted from the tab order so the only way to enter them is by clicking them. TriggerFind.zip

Hi, I'm looking for some help from some people that are smarter than I am! I looked at doing synchronization between multiple remote FMP 9.0 databases using SyncDek, but the cost is so high! I also looked at using fmSQL Synch, but its only available for the Mac (we're using Win XP). So I came up with the following idea. PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR FEEDBACK ON WHETHER YOU THINK IT WILL WORK! Our solution requires off-line transactions and then synchronization, so I'm thinking of setting up the following: * Create a local MySQL database structure from a FMP 9.0 database using FMPro Migrator (on a Win XP PC) * Linking a new FMP 9.0 database "interface" to th…

I use various version of FileMaker to open the same file at different times. When using the "Open With..." option several versions all show up as the same name. e.g. FileMaker Pro Advanced. By changing a registry entry, the "Open With..." option can display the name and version number. Add the version number to the display portion after the "=" sign. [HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsShellNoRoamMUICache] "C:Program FilesFileMakerFileMaker Pro 8 AdvancedFileMaker Pro Advanced.exe"="FileMaker Pro Advanced [color:red]8"

Just thought I'd share this with you all, most of you probably know this, some of you might not. I have a few forms that have to be worked in a certain order. Dropdown list 2 is based off a relationship between dropdown 1. The problem I've been having, in 8, is that when the user goes back, and changes dropdown1, dropdown 2 does not change. My end users often don't notice this, and thus have bogus data in their final form. So here is what I have done. I have changed the field DropDown2 to be an auto enter calc. with replace exisiting value unchecked, and the evealute if ref'd fields are empty box unchecked also. I put in this calc: Eva…

Solution: FM 7 - Date Picker Description: I know this is included with version 8 (or so) but I am still stuck in version 7. The only other example I could find when I searched these forums was a version that was done in Developer 7. Since it used features I could not access I decided to try and create a date picker in plain v7. I used the MS Outlook date picker as a model(which may be the Windoze system date picker). Features so far: * 7 week calendar with week numbers * Change Year through pop-up custom dialog * Backward and Forward navigation by month Working Under: Solution Status: Beta Pre-requisites: Author(s) sbg2 …

This file implements a set of custom functions for creating and operating on multi-dimensional matrixes (ie, arrays). The matrixes are stored in global variables, using the evaluate method to simulate a "pointer" type within fileMaker. Even if you aren't interested in multi-dimensional arrays you should probably take a gander at this, I think the concepts here open some doors to more complex data structures. If you are interested in matrixes, you'll find some useful custom functions here, a tutorial on how to use them, with live examples of them working as you move through the tutorial. The user-level functions implemented include: - CreateMatrix( "…

Here's another "object", implemented via custom functions using repeating global variables for storage. This one implements a date formatter similar to the c-library function strftime(), which uses % as an indicator of a special char to fill in. So for example, the call: FormatData( ; "Short year: %y weekday number: %u day of year: %j"; GetAsDate( “11/22/1976” ) ) Returns the result: Short year: 76 weekday number: 2 day of year: 327 The formatter maintains the text style present in the format, and new format code letters can easily be added. The current supported format letters are: %A - full weekday name %a - abbr weekday nam…